How to Organize Your Child's Closet

Children's closets can easily become cluttered and disorganized, but there are many ways to make the most of even a very small closet in your child's room.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Bookcases
• Closet Rods
• Clothes Hangers
• Dressers
• Laundry Baskets
• Plastic Storage Drawers
• Storage Bins
• Storage Shelves
• Closet-organizing Systems
• Kid's Closet Organizers
• Plastic Storage Containers

1. Add a second closet bar at a lower level. The lower bar allows you to hang clothes within your child's reach, and it can be used for separates later on, when your child is tall enough to reach the top bar.

2. Consider installing a closet organizer. There are many types available, so shop around to find the right one.

3. Invest in some hanging cubes, shoe racks or other hanging storage systems ' these help to get things off the floor and make it easy for kids to put things in their proper places.

4. Be ruthless. Go through your child's clothes and get rid of anything she doesn't wear or isn't likely to use. Give these items away, or take the better ones to a children's consignment store.

5. Add extra shelves if there's enough space. High shelves can be used to store out-of-season clothes and gear, while lower shelves can hold items your child needs or uses often.

6. Invest in some large clear containers with colored lids. These make a great "filing system" for shoes, folded clothes and toys.

7. Buy lots of small, sturdy hangers designed to hold children's clothing. These are less likely to damage your child's clothes than regular wire hangers, which can pull small garments out of shape.

8. Organize clothes by type of garment: dresses and skirts at one end of the closet; shirts, overalls and jackets at the other end.

9. Show your child how to hang and fold clothes properly if she is old enough. Neatly folded clothes take up much less space in a dresser than clothes that are just crammed in haphazardly.

10. Get your child a dresser or chest of drawers if she doesn't already have one. This will store socks, underwear, T-shirts and other folded clothes, and will give her extra closet space.

Tips & Warnings

• Install a laundry bag or hamper in your child's closet; this will encourage her to put dirty clothes where they belong.
• Try to buy closet organizers and accessories that will grow with your child ' she should be able to use most of them for various purposes until she leaves home.
• Get down to your child's level when considering where to put things. This will help you figure out how much of the closet is out of your child's reach.
• Make sure your child has a wastebasket in her room; this will mean that less garbage gets shoved into the closet or dropped on the floor.
• Don't surprise older kids by organizing their stuff for them. They have a right to some privacy and some say in how their things are stored. Instead, offer to work on closet organization together.

on 8/8/2006 When organizing hair items, group the supplies by category. Put all the necklaces in on container, all the barrettes in another, etc. For headbands take a long plastic container, such as a liter bottle, and place the bands over it so that they will not slide around or get tangled in anything.
For favorite or memorable necklaces, simply place a nail in the wall and hang them until the time of use.
While traveling, place your earrings in a daily pill container. This way you will not have to spend your time searching for a pair, or more importantly, you will not lose them.

on 8/8/2006 Hang a pretty piece of wide grosgrain ribbon either in closet or near her mirror. Clip her pretty barrettes onto it. She can see them easily to match with her outfits, and you can use the drawer for something else. Be sure to cut the bottom of the ribbon on the bias, or paint with clear nail polish, to prevent fraying ends. If you want to organize the rest of her pony tail holders, get some Velcro or snap tape and sew it in loops along the length of ribbon, spacing 2" apart. Then just thread snap tape through holders and attach to the other end.

on 11/22/2005 Another reminder not to organize your childrens stuff without asking. It is horrible for a kid to come home and realize all thier stuff has either been thrown away or moved to somewhere else in your room, which may take days or weeks to find again.
Also, I suggest getting some kind of organizer for craft supplies. I always keep my extras (craft things) for later use, and trust me, they come in handy.

on 11/22/2005 Get a good-sized plastic tool box with an extra snap lid on top. Put all small ponytail holders, bobby pins and small barrettes in the top. Put bows and scrunchies in the bottom. In the removable tray, put clips, brushes, etc. There will be no more fishing around for a ponytail band in a cluttered drawer or basket. It is all right there at your fingertips.
I let my daughter decorate hers with markers and stickers and such.
This is really neat for first aid stuff, too!

on 11/22/2005 This is the king of clothes organizers. All you need is 2 choices of fabric, scissors, a sewing machine, a big piece of cardboard, and some metal punch-on "holey things" (the word for these escapes me). You can hang the organizer up on 2 hooks, which you put on the door.

You are making an organizer that looks like a pillow case with pockets on the front. Mine has 6 pockets (2 across and 3 down).

The base material should be the opposite of the pockets. For example, use a plain base with gingham pockets for girls, and stars and moons for boys (or whatever you want).

1) Measure out the inside closet door width, which will determine the size of your organizer. Keep each side at least 2cm narrower than the door. Next, measure the height of the door, leaving at least 5cm room at the bottom. This will give you a rectangle/square.

2) Fold the base fabric in half to get 2 lengths (A and B) and cut to your measurements (allow for 1cm seams).

3) Using paper templates, cut the fabric into squares the size of the pockets you want, keeping your gaps evenly spaced (both across and down). Chalk around the templates in order to indicate the real ones to sew.

4) Pin your templates onto your chosen pocket fabric at least 10cm apart. Just before you cut it, you need to add a 1cm seam allowance and a few centimeters to the tops of the squares (adjusting for your own needs), so that the clothes can be folded and put into the pockets.

5) Sew the seams of the pockets. Pin the pockets on to the "A" base panel exactly where the chalk lines are, sewing them down, across, and up. Leave the top open and slightly baggy when you sew the "case" together.

7) Fold in the seams, sewing as you fold (I used 1cm seams). Next, put the 2 panels together (seams inward), and sew down, across, and up. Leave the top open.

8)Don't forget to put a space in herePut in the cardboard. I cut up a box from the supermarket, slightly smaller than the size of the bases.

8) This should be 9 Punch on the "ringy things," avoiding the top of the cardboard (if possible). Put the hooks in the door, then hang it.

Finally, sort your kids' clothes into "outfits" and stick them in the pockets. This is a fail-proof helper for dads when they dress the kids.